RWWA Stewards bring to the attention of all Owners and Trainers their strict responsibility under the rules to notify Racing Australia (RA) of all Deceased and Retired horses through lodgement of the prescribed form.

To ensure full compliance with the rules, the Stewards will be conducting regular stable inspections and auditing stable return records and contacting owners to confirm whether horses are deceased or retired if there present status is unclear due to RA not being notified through the submission of the official forms.

The form can be found on the RA website as follows:

RA website > Registrar of Racehorses > Forms > Additional Forms > Retirement of Racehorses or Death Notification. The link for the forms is included below:

The creation of new rules specifically designed to capture this information is a major initiative and demonstrates the commitment of RA to horse welfare which is of paramount importance with the intent being to place a strict requirement on the owner/s to notify of a horse’s current status for official recording and traceability purposes.

The relevant rules are provided below:

AR.64J. (1) Upon the death of a Named Horse, which has not been retired from racing pursuant to AR.64JA, the Manager, or his or her Authorised agent, must, within 24 hours f the horse being deceased, notify Racing Australia by lodging the Death Notification form prescribed by Racing Australia and must not dispose of the horse without the written approval of the relevant Principal Racing Authority unless a veterinary certificate as to cause of death is provided.

(2) Upon the death of an Unnamed Horse, the Manager, or his or her Authorised agent must, within 48 hours of the horse being deceased, notify Racing Australia by lodging the Death Notification form prescribed by Racing Australia.

(3) Any person who fails to comply with the provisions of sub-rules (1) or (2) commits a breach of these Rules unless he or she proves to the satisfaction of the Stewards that he or she was not aware, and could not reasonably have been aware, of the death of the horse.

AR.64JA. (1) Where a decision has been made to retire, or not commence racing an Eligible Horse, the Manager, or his or her Authorised Agent, of the horse at the time of that decision must, within one month of that decision, notify the Registrar by updating the Stable Return or lodging the relevant Retirement form prescribed by Racing Australia.

(2) Where a form has been lodged in accordance with AR.64JA(1), the horse will cease to be eligible to race or to be trained and is ineligible to race or to be trained unless it is reinstated to race or to be trained.

(3) Where a horse ceases to be eligible to race or to be trained under this Rule, the horse may not be reinstated to race or to be trained except with the express permission of the Stewards.

(4) Any person who fails to comply with AR.64JA (1) or (3) commits a breach of these Rules and may be penalised.

Owners are informed that a trainer may be appointed to act as his Authorised Agent for the purpose of the rules by providing written authority to this effect to RA.

Trainers are to be aware that the lodgement of a stable return indicating that a horse has “left stable”, “retired”, or is “deceased” does not obviate the owner from having to complete the prescribed forms and this must be communicated to the managing owner for their immediate attention and action.

Any questions in relation to this matter may be directed to the Stewards Department on 94455570.